Israeli authorities demolish house belonging to Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

“It is an act of vandalism that infringes international law,” said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, as he stood amongst the ruins of a Palestinian home, a week after it was demolished by the Israeli authority.

Patriarch Twal, auxiliary bishops and numerous Christians living in the Holy Land took part in this afternoon’s angry protests, held just a few metres away from the check-point that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem. The outcry was accompanied by a powerful letter of protest addressed to the Israeli interior minister. The incident took place at dawn on 28 October, when bulldozers rolled up to raze the building to the ground. The house was located 150 metres from the check-point, at the foot of Tantur hill, near the Jewish neighbourhood of Gilo. The family that lived in the house which belonged to the Latin Patriarchate, said: “They turned up at 5 in the morning. They forced us to go out of our house. They took our cell phones away and forbid us from letting anyone know. We stood there and watched as the bulldozers demolished the house.”

This is the latest in a string of demolitions of Palestinian homes, ordered in recent days by the East Jerusalem municipality. The official reason given is to do with town planning regulations: Israeli authorities are knocking the houses down because they claim “these were built without legal permits.” The houses are therefore demolished to make space for the expansion of great Jewish neighbourhoods in eastern Jerusalem, such as Gilo and Har Homa. But this particular case is a paradox: it was built prior to 1967 when the Six Day War led to Israel taking control of the area, which was situated within Jerusalem’s boundaries. So this house was only illegal insofar as there were no urban plans that took into account the buildings that existed in the area.

“Despite knowing that the house belonged to us, no one warned us about this act of madness. This is an injustice we cannot keep quiet about,” Fouad Twal said during today’s protest.